Word Origin & History

quirk 1560s, "quibble, evasion," of unknown origin, perhaps connected to Ger. quer (see queer) via notion of twisting and slanting; but its earliest appearance in western England dialect seems to argue against this source. Perhaps originally a technical term for a twist or flourish in weaving. Sense of "peculiarity" is c.1600.

Example Sentences for quirk

Still, the quirk is more the rule than the exception for tennis players under pressure.

If these urges were confined purely to the founding generation, this would be a historical quirk.

The early arrival-albeit only by a minute-is due to a complex quirk of the leap-year calendar.

How remiss of me and an interesting quirk of academic isolation.

The survival of our village, and many others, is due to a quirk in history and to geography.

Quirk displayed weapons that he said had been confiscated by unarmed officers during random searches.

It is a quirk of timing that he should face the scrutiny of a judiciary that so studiously ignored his predecessors.

The standard theory of bad moods is rooted in a psychological quirk known as ego depletion.